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I think a lot of new cruisers see the social media and adverts about the new(ish) ships and assume the RC product is the same for all ships. Pretty certain they don't feature the old ships in their adverts or advertising material. Having said this we enjoyed our 12 night on Serenade last Sept. Though did notice the couch in the room was threadbare. Food was OK. The positives with the smaller ships are usually more interesting ports

It's midnight in the time zone your cruise is from. So my next cruise is from Singapore but I live in Europe. Therefore check in was open for me at 4pm my time on the previous day (midnight in Singapore). When I cruise from Miami check in opens about 5am for me as our time zone is 5 hours ahead of Miami. OP You may find answers to your questions here https://www.royalcaribbean.com/gbr/en/faq?ecid=ps_43700077757898296&country=GBR&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-62tBhDSARIsAO7twbZRaTMBDttoR-TmRY4_KcD0TwfQ2Q0K7Ki-KBFZKGIaUe9MRhACrTMaAhutEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Yesterday we visited Winchester Cathedral. Winchester traces its roots back to 150BC and was once the capital of England. Its Cathedral was started in the 11 century. When Jane Austen was ill she travelled there with her sister to get medical help and died in a house very close to the Cathedral. It was normal then to be buried inside the nearest church and this is why she's buried there. She wasn't that well known or famous when she died at age 41, though her novels were beginning to get noticed. During her lifetime her books didn't have her name on them, just 'written by a lady'. She was 'outed' by one of her brothers after her death. The cathedral Her grave inside the Cathedral. It doesn't mention her books at all. But there has since been a window dedicated to her and people leave flowers

We had a 'Jane Austen' couple of days . On Thursday we visited her home where she lived with her mother and sister and wrote her novels. Her home, a normal village house gifted to the ladies by her wealthy brother the small table where she wrote her novels The home of her brother about half a mile away on the edge of the village It was fascinating learning about her life and large family. A lot of her life was in her books. I.e. one of her brothers was taken on by rich relatives and left three estates (Mansfield Park). They lived in a house gifted by a rich relative who lived nearby (Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion). She was a daughter of a clergyman, as was the main character in Northangar Abbey. They lived in Bath for several years and Bath is important in Persuasion. Two of her brothers were Admirals in the Navy and she used them as role models for the navy officers in Persuasion

In Southern England we've had a cold spell with the temperature down to 21f overnight ( -6c), but warming up with a high of 54f (12c) expected tomorrow

It's already paid for in our cruise fare. Public areas should be ......public

I have something similar with my Spectrum cruise in February. Our guarantee is, as expected, on 6 with the lifeboat obstruction. The Royal up category I'm bidding on is OV with large balcony so I'm hoping that may move me to a higher floor. It's only a four night cruise so no big deal if we're stuck with the obstruction. As far as I know the royal ups only show upgraded cabins to the one you're already in, so it should be be a higher category of cabin.

Some of the London theatre's which are hundreds of years old are very cramped with small seats and not much legroom.

Travelling 'staff travel' on the airlines there was always a dress code, especially if you wanted to be considered for an upgrade. It's a bit more relaxed now but still asks for smart (no holes) jeans as a minimum

DH trims his beard and since lockdown I have cut his hair

Sounds like a great itinerary. Is it a big ship? Wonder why RC big girls don't do this type of itinerary. I presume because they can't dock at smaller ports ?

This seems to work, thankyou. Shows its towards the back on 6 port side. With, as expected, a lifeboat blocking the view, but I think the smoking bus stop is on the other side ? I've put in a low bid for a large balcony OV in the hope of getting a higher floor but not the end of the world if we stay where we are

Sounds like a good idea Debbie to postpone, but disappointing when you're so looking forward to it

Thanks Mark, I'll gave a go at this, only the bar code so far. We've got a muster and floor assigned so far.

We're pretty cool with whatever. It's only a four night cruise. I'm a little concerned it may be right above the smoking 'bus stop' on five but the website shows only central and forward cabins available on six at mo , 🤞 It's Spectrum ex Singapore. The Serenade WC segment isn't till July, BCN to Southampton

Thank you, there's a muster station assigned and a floor (6) on Spectrum but no numbers under the bar code as yet. Still six weeks to go so I'll keep looking

Can anyone remind me how to find a cabin number from the boarding card bar code? Our cruise next month from Singapore still has no cabin assigned and I'm wondering if I should bid on a royal up

Great news about your mum's op going so well. 👍

Gary was telling me today that his friends in Edmonton posted that's it's -40c there at mo 🥶

Something similar happened to us a few years ago on a transatlantic . The Viking Crown lounge is a favourite of ours on ships that have them for a predinner drink. On this cruise it was closed from 4 to 8pm nightly for the overspill of the Diamond Lounge due to high numbers of D and up . Now we are finally Diamond it looks like we may be shut out again

Loving hearing about new parts of the world (to me). Here's the Wikipedia page on Drakes Passage if anyone's interested in learning more. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_Passage Hope there's some Naturalists on board giving talks on the local sea/bird life in the area

+1, Happy Birthday @DaniDanielle Sorry I missed a few posts, trying to play catch up

Congratulations to Owen, @A&L_Ont He'll love his freedom that a driving licence brings. Agree with Debbie, I use to be up all night worrying until they got home, when my boys passed their tests. I told my boys I would put a third towards their car, they could take a third from their savings but they had to contribute a third too. Worked with the oldest but I seem to remember our youngest got our old car when we changed cars.

It's been a very wet autumn and winter so far. Lots of flooding and the Thames has burst its banks. Fields near rivers are now lakes. But at last this week we've got a period of sunny and colder weather. One of our NY resolutions is to get out more and not just stick to our everyday walks. This week we went to a National Trust property and had a fascinating tour of the walled gardens and yesterday we drove down to the coast and had a great walk on the beach.

Thinking of you always Dani and hoping for a speedy end 🙏 That dinner looks very yummy. Aaron is such a talented cook and artist